


Chestnut

by windyway



Series: Failed SimulaSHOn [4]
Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Chestnut - Freeform, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:34:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23802436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windyway/pseuds/windyway
Summary: Nino loves chestnut dearly. Sho has a brilliant idea involving that information.
Relationships: Ninomiya Kazunari/Sakurai Sho
Series: Failed SimulaSHOn [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714858
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Chestnut

**Author's Note:**

> It started with a random idea, "What if Sho doesn't know how chestnut ripe?" Then I remember that in this AU, Nino likes Ooki na Kuri no Ki no Shita de, a nursery rhyme. This is the most difficult and the longest story I wrote in this series XD

Sho, Aiba, and Nino, and Ohno were accompanying the kids and elders to play in the park. Aiba and Ohno played together with them, while Sho and Nino watched from afar. They sat side by side on the park bench.

“Kazu, why do you like Ooki na Kuri no Ki no Shita de?” Sho asked him out of the blue.

“Eh? Hm... It’s because there’s a big chestnut tree near my house. I played with Yu-chan and others every day there when we were kids. When it was a chestnut season, we would harvest a lot of chestnuts and eat them together. Sometimes, my mom cooked them into many delicious dishes,” Nino smiled fondly remembering his childhood memories.

Sho hummed, “Never expected that it’d be that deep. I thought you love it because of the melody.”

“Wild chestnut trees are getting rarer this day, but fortunately I can find them here. Speaking of chestnuts, Chestnut season will come soon. Can you smell the chestnut flowers?” Nino closed his eyes and inhaled the scent. “People find that the smell is unpleasant, but not for me. I can smell the sweet scent from here. It’s less fragrant than last month tho. That means the chestnut burrs have emerged. Usually, the kids would go to the east side of this park to harvest chestnuts with their teachers. Hiro did that too last year. We ate chestnut for 3 days in a row!” Nino laughed again.

“You seem like chestnut a lot,” Sho nodded.

“Yes, because it’s versatile. You can use it in many dishes, both savory and sweet. You can just boil it or roast it and it’s ready to eat. We like candied chestnut! You should try it. It’s Mom’s recipe so I can guarantee the taste,” Nino smirked.

“Kazu, you talk a lot,” Sho snorted.

Nino blushed, “It’s your fault because you asked me about chestnut!” He ran closer to the elders to escape from Sho. Sho laughed hard.

Sho had a simulation running in his head.

-

After getting the important information from Nino, Sho was thinking about having a date under the chestnut tree. But he should prepare it without Nino knowing. Sometimes he was afraid of Nino’s eyes. It was like Nino could read his mind and the smirk; his knowing smirk was annoying. Nino said that the burrs had emerged, so he couldn’t have a picnic under the chestnut blossom. What should he do? Then, he got an idea when he saw Aiba entered the class.

“Aiba-chan, Nino told me that these kids always harvest chestnut in chestnut season. Is that right?” Sho asked.

“Yes. Why?”

“Ummm, is there any chance to combine that activity with the elders? It’d be fun I think.”

“I’m okay tho, but are you sure? They should wear something to protect them from the burrs then.”

“Ah, yes. Noted."

"Maybe we can discuss that with other caregivers near the chestnut season?”

“Of course! Thank you, Aiba-chan!” Sho smiled from ear to ear and went to the teacher’s room happily.

“He’s so excited,” Aiba shrugged.

Long story short, Sho’s idea to bring the elders to do chestnut harvesting along with the kids was accepted by Joshima-san and other caregivers. A special date that Sho had been planning throughout the fall would come soon. Moreover, Nino seems to have bad mood episodes since a week ago, which was weird because it was chestnut season now. The chestnut picnic date seemed to be a brilliant idea to lift his mood. Sho smirked to himself. He could imagine Nino’s watering eyes and a wide smile. He was so sure about that.

Sho kept looking at the window to wait for Nino. Nino then came to pick Hiro up. Nice chance! Sho hastily wore his shoes and ran closer to Nino to execute his plan.

“Kazu, can you accompany me to the chestnut trees in the park?” Sho asked Nino in the yard.

“Hm? Yes, what for?” Nino frowned.

“Ummm... I wanna know more about the place and do a location survey. When do you have spare time?” _Sho, don’t be nervous! Don’t be nervous now!_

“The day after tomorrow after picking Hiro up? He can wait in the nursing home while we go to the park. I’m sorry that I’m still busy preparing some elders to go home for winter.”

“It’s okay, take your time. The day after tomorrow then.”

“Did I hear chestnut?” Hiro’s voice was heard from Sho’s behind.

“Ah! Ssshhh, it’s a secret,” Sho turned back and panicked for a second. He turned left and right quickly, checking if there were any students in the yard.

“Oh!” Hiro gasped too and closed his mouth.

“Zip your lips, Hiro-kun!” Sho whispered and gestured to zip their lips.

“Can you keep a secret?” Nino asked and Hiro nodded. “Good. Okay, Sho-san. We should go home now. See you on Thursday.”

“Yeah, Thursday. See you,” Sho waved to them.

“Bye-bye, sensei!” Hiro waved back and held Nino’s hand.

“Bye!” First step: Clear.

-

Thursday finally came. Sho already prepared everything he should bring in his small backpack. Aiba gave a questioning look when he saw him brought two backpacks this morning but he didn’t ask Sho further. Sho couldn’t go back today. He wouldn’t. After talking with Aiba about his “location survey”, Sho accompanied Hiro to the nursing home and picked Nino up.

“Are you ready?”

“Yeah. With my scooter?” Nino kept looking at Sho’s bag but didn’t say anything.

“Yeah.” Second step: Clear.

They arrived at the park and got off from the scooter. The park was rather quiet, maybe because it was still half-past three. They walked to the east side where the chestnut trees grew. Sho realized that the park was huge and he hadn’t explored this park yet. He should do it someday. His palms were sweaty. He was both anxious and excited. Nino didn’t stop smirking and stifling his laugh. Sho should read it as a red sign, but he decided to ignore it. Then...

“...What?” Sho didn’t believe what he saw. The ground was covered by spiky burrs. All over the place. The ground. Was. Full. Of. Spiky. Burrs. He even could see squirrels taking the chestnut.

“What what?” Nino asked back while stifling his laugh.

“This...”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought it’d be...” It was indeed a location survey for him. His confidence on his perfect date plan faded into the thin air.

“Be what?”

“It’s...”

“Sho, don’t tell me that you don’t know how to harvest chestnuts.”

“No! I know... But I didn’t expect that it’d fall on the ground... Like mines,” Why didn’t he find out about this information when he was surfing on the internet?

“Sho-san, you grew up in Gunma, right? How could you don’t know how chestnuts ripe?”

“I know how chestnuts ripe- The burrs- but... I never found chestnut trees near my house, you know?” “Ah, it’s embarrassing,” He just wanted to go home, hid under his blanket. Or be a squirrel right now. Why was this embarrassing moment should repeat at the same place?

Nino chuckled, “Okay. Tell me what you want.”

“Huh?”

“Why did you bring me here? And you even bring...” Nino pulled Sho’s backpack and opened it. He checked what Sho brought inside it. “A picnic blanket? Snack? Book? What for? I thought you wanted to do a location survey for the upcoming activity, right? Hm?” Nino smirked.

“That’s why he didn’t say anything when he saw my backpack,” Sho muttered and looked away from Nino. His face scrunched up with annoyance.

“What are you muttering, Sho-san? Hm?” Nino peeked at his left to see his embarrassed boyfriend.

“Kazu, stop...”

“Why? You owe me an explanation. Or... What were you simulating, Sho-san?” Nino arranged his breath or else he would burst in laughter and made Sho cry.

“Kazu...” Sho sighed in defeat, “I know that you love chestnut, so I wanna take you here. You told me that your mood was kinda low since a few days ago, so I thought that a quick date under the chestnut tree would be fun. You told me that it was almost the chestnut season. I thought we could sit under the tree while picking chestnut-”

“From the tree...”

“Yes, from the tree, and took home some. Like harvesting apples or oranges. Or we could just sit here in silence. You played your game, I read my book. Leaning side by side, enjoying each other’s presence.”

“Why now? Not on the next Monday? Or after that?”

“We’d run out of chestnut and we couldn’t spend our time together. I want you to take as many as chestnut you want before anyone else,” Sho sighed again, “My perfect date plan... I just wanna make you happy, Kazu...”

“Sho... Come here,” Nino gave Sho’s bag back, then grabbed Sho’s hands. They walked away a bit from the chestnut trees. “Thank you for concerning me, and sorry for making you worried about me,” Sho shook his head slowly, “I appreciate your effort to make me happy, even making hundreds of simulations in this head,” Nino patted Sho's head and chuckled again. “But meeting you almost every day is enough. Seeing your smile is enough for me to make me feel grateful that we have each other now.”

“Kazu...”

“Sometimes I think that your kindness is overwhelming. It turns out that I forget about how to respond to that big attention from other people. You know that I used to live with my family and friends, without any romantic relationship in between, right? When we decided to date, I thought that I didn’t deserve it. You’re too good for me. Fortunately, we agreed to take this slow, so I can learn about you and your love language. When I met your mother, I could see your other side and thought that you were a lucky guy who had such good parents to raise you. Now, I realized that I’m a lucky guy who can be your partner. Thank you.”

“... My pleasure, Kazu. And thank you for being honest with your feeling. I appreciate it,” Sho gave a warm smile for Nino.

“You’re welcome,” Nino smiled back, “You know what? I knew your plan about all of this.”

“Wha- What?” Sho’s surprised face made Nino cackled.

“I have an informant near you,” Nino wiped his tears after too much laughing. Sho was indeed an excellent entertainer, or simply oblivious to his surroundings.

“Aiba-chan...” Sho realized and looked far away to the sky.

“And you’re too obvious! Asking about chestnuts to every people since early fall...” Nino snorted. He didn’t know how many times he laughed in many versions.

“I hate you,” Sho pouted.

“Oh, you can't and you won't. But~ Because I knew about your plan, I brought these,” Nino opened his backpack and showed what he brought inside.

“Tongs? Gloves? And hats?” Sho frowned.

“Yeah, good that you didn’t question my bag. You should be too nervous to recognize it, huh?” Sho rolled his eyes, “Let’s harvest all of these precious chestnuts before anyone could. Moreover, J asked me to bring some chestnut. He said that he wanna make Mont Blanc.”

“J?”

“Jun-kun.”

“Jun-kun knew my plan too? No...”

Nino patted Sho’s shoulder, “Don’t worry, I just tell him that I will harvest chestnut with my boyfriend,” Nino winked.

Sho sighed in relief, “But... The hat?” Sho pointed the hats with wide brims in Nino’s hand.

“You want those spiky burrs to fall on and prick your head?”

“No. thank you,” Sho flinched, “How could we bring these back to the daycare?”

“Let’s use your picnic blanket. We take as many as we can then we will share it with others. How?”

“Sounds good,” Sho nodded, “Teach me how to hunt the best chestnut, Master Chestnut,” he bowed down formally to Nino.

“Of course, I’ll teach you everything I know, my disciple,” Nino smiled smugly.

Maybe Sho's simulation didn't work out well, but hunting chestnut with your boyfriend wasn't bad at all.

**Simulation 0 – 4 Reality**


End file.
